By David Boyle (Class of 2006)
Gargoyle staff reporter
Posted Sunday, Feb. 4, 2007, The OG, sports & features

[Note: This article originally appeared in the May 27, 2005, issue of the print Gargoyle. We are republishing it online in honor of junior Mike Renner's accomplishment Friday night, when he scored his 1,000th career point as a Uni varsity basketball player.]

THE CALM FACE of Mike Renner loomed over the St. Joseph-Ogden infield from the front of the dugout. It was May 10, and the Uni baseball team led the St. Joe JV 4-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Mike bled confidence. He told his teammates that when they scored six runs in that inning they could walk off the field and enjoy a 10-0 slaughter-rule victory.

In just a few minutes, the team scored its six runs and was on its way toward yet another win in an 11-6 season (7-0 in the East Central Illinois Conference).

The face of Mike Renner went from confident to intrepid. For the next three years, his will be the face of Uni High athletics.

That face should look familiar by now, even though Mike is just finishing up his freshman year. No family in recent memory has fielded such an illustrious group of Uni athletes as the Renners.

Senior Andy Renner earned four letters in baseball and three each in basketball and soccer; a torn ACL prevented him from winning four letters in all three sports.

Junior Al Renner won Mr. Offense in soccer this year, co-MVP in basketball, and MVP in baseball.

Mike emerged as one of the area's top goalkeepers in soccer and was team rookie of the year in basketball and baseball.

So what accounts for all of their accomplishments?

A FAMILY AFFAIR

For the Renners, sports has always been about competitive drive. The support of their father, Ken Renner, has also been fundamental to their success.

“Our dad really helped us when we were young, teaching us,” says Mike. “But the fire and will to win came from each other, just when we were playing together outside. It was always about trying to beat your brothers no matter what. … [They're like] an enemy and a friend at the same time; you want to beat them no matter what, but you'll still try to help teach each other.”

Andy says that when they were younger, they would play two-on-two football in the yard with their dad. These games often ended because one of the boys “would become frustrated with ourselves or each other,” Andy recalls. He says that if he was mad at Al, he would “throw him bad passes, which just made everyone more ticked off.”

Al says he has “always enjoyed playing sports, but starting from a young age I always wanted to beat Andy. When we play against each other, and even when we're on the same team, I guess I always want to do better than him.”

The middle Renner says this fraternal competitiveness extends beyond the realm of sports. He jokes that “Andy is a jerk when it comes to board games.” He says the two of them “can't play those kinds of games any more — I don't think we've ever actually played a full game; it always breaks out in a fight at some point.”

Al asserts that he usually runs from these fights because he knows Andy will win.

Replies Andy: “I don't actually care very much about board games. Mike and I just team up against Al, usually in Monopoly, because he's so annoying about things like that.”

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

The fantasy of having all three Renners on the field at the same time for Uni sports was about to become a reality this fall. Mike says he “was really excited to be playing alongside both of them for the first time.”

But Andy tore his ACL before the full trio was ever able to start in a varsity soccer game together.

Andy played just three soccer games as a senior, and he missed the entire basketball season, which turned out to be the second winningest in Uni history as the team went 23-5.

“I was really excited coming into the soccer season,” says Andy, who will attend the University of Notre Dame. “The injury was really upsetting, but I just feel fortunate that in my other three years nothing ever happened.”

The injury also upset Al, who says he and Andy had a “special onfield relationship because we know each other so well.”

More than anything else, Al says he simply missed “Andy's presence, because I know we've been successful together in the past.”

Just being on the court or the playing field together made each of them stronger, Al says.

AND WHAT WILL BE

Varsity basketball coach Joel Beesley describes the relationship between Al and Andy as “very physical and feisty during practice. The intensity was really healthy for our team.”

Watching them play together, Beesley could see that Al and Andy “always had a special recognition for each other on the court. Al and Mikey developed that near the end of this season.”

According to Beesley, Al's relationship with Mike is “less physical and competitive” than his relationship with Andy.

“Al would always protect Mikey,” Beesley says.

The three Renners just finished an undefeated ECIC championship season in baseball, batting 3-4-5 in the lineup.

After their final game together on May 18, Mike was “sad to see Andy leave,” but he realizes that he will still play alongside brother Al next year, during what he calls “the high point of Uni athletics.”

RELATED

— Gargoyle Q&A with Al & Mike Renner: Brotherly love & basketball

— Gargoyle sports story: Renner scores 1,000th career point as Uni notches 12th win